Jeremiah 6:27-30 "Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals, that you may determine the quality of My people. 28 They are the worst kind of rebel, full of slander. They are as hard as bronze and iron, and they lead others into corruption. 29 The bellows fiercely fan the flames to burn out the corruption. But it does not purify them, for the wickedness remains. 30 I will label them 'Rejected Silver,' for I, the LORD, am discarding them."

Jeremiah 9:7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people?"

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Is God turning up the heat on you? There are times when the children of God will have to go through very hot flames that keep getting hotter and hotter and you may think that it's hotter than King Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. Did you ever think that maybe God is the one pushing the thermostat higher in your life?

God told Jeremiah that he had given him a job as a metallurgist. God's people were impure and the time had come for Him to do something about it. Left to their own discretion though, they were not getting any better than the rest of the world. God had given them every opportunity to come back to Him but they kept trampling on His grace and now God was prepared to judge them.

As a tester of metals Jeremiah had to determine what kind of quality God's people were. God had given him to judge their quality and if the waste product could not be removed then they would be labeled 'Rejected Silver.'

1 Peter 1:6-7 "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

It is difficult to imagine saying "Wow, that was a lot of fun" but Peter says that we should rejoice in our trials. We can rejoice in the knowledge that God is perfecting us, he is moving us closer to the purity that can only be found in his son Jesus. We are valuable because of what Jesus did for us, yet we are trapped in the impurities of this world and in need of being refined to help us get rid of the junk.

God knows that his people are hard as metal and will resist change just like an anvil does. You can beat on the anvil all day but it isn't going to change without some extreme heat.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

God doesn't want us to put value into what the world values, what they think is important, what jokes they think are funny and what choices the world says are right. We are supposed to look different, we are supposed to become more like his son and we should be putting effort into exhibiting the character traits that Jesus has. (James 1:21, Phil 2:12)